


Persona 5: Humani Generis Est Spe

by Moonflower2002



Category: Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal, Persona Series
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:55:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29843886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonflower2002/pseuds/Moonflower2002
Summary: It all started that day, half a year ago. Framed and made to seem as a criminal, Ren Amamiya just wanted to live out his probation as best he could. He had no idea that would involve cognitive worlds, stealing hearts, and becoming an actual criminal. With his fellow Phantom Thieves of Heart, they will change hearts of true villains who hurt and ruin lives and will try to make society a better place. From Kamoshida to Kaneshiro to Okumura, the thieves will change the hearts of those of corruption and become the hope that humanity needs once more. They will teach the world what it means to have a heart and what it means to be a hero and a rebel. After all, they are thieves after all and must spread their wings of rebellion to save the world from its coming ruin.
Kudos: 3





	1. Satus Recta

#  Chapter One: Satus Recta

“Oh my gosh. Did you hear about that train crash the other day?” An excitable girl told her friend on the train who nodded vigorously.

“Yeah. It sucks so much.” The girl responded and a boy is seen standing nearby with phone in his hand and bag over his shoulder. The boy is wearing fake glasses and has frizzy black hair, as well as wore plaid jeans and a school uniform. The boy seems annoyed by the ongoing conversation near him.

_ “Train crash?! You’re talking on a train about a train crash and seem to have no care about it or the lives lost. Assholes.” _ The boy silently raged in his head, but still carried a neutral expression as he stared out the window, his finger unconsciously clicking an app on his phone, but he didn’t care. He had never been to a city in his entire life. He had lived in the suburbs and never even wanted to go to a city, let alone Shibuya or Tokyo. Now he was supposed to live with someone Ren had never met, a man by the name of Sojiro Sakura. He didn’t even know the man.

As Ren Amamiya got off the train and struggled through the crowds of the square, suddenly a man pushed him to the ground to get by. Ren’s vision narrowed as suddenly everything around him froze. From the birds, to every person. To say Ren was shocked would be an exaggeration.

“What the?” Ren muttered to himself as he spun around and nothing was moving, even the cars on the street. Suddenly as Ren looked towards the building in front of him, he saw giant blue flames erupt from nothing. Ren didn’t back away and looked at it in awe. Suddenly he saw a devilish face appear in the flames and suddenly saw himself in it, with yellow eyes and a bold smirk.

Suddenly, time resumed and the blue flames had been smothered out. Ren was speechless as he continued to go his way to the train to get to Yongen-Jaya. As Ren waited for the train along the far wall, he overheard some security talking.

“Those train crashes are such a hassle. Why can’t crazies think about us?” A security guard complained to their partner, who just shrugged as the train arrived for Yongen-Jaya, which Ren entered without a word spoken.

After an uneventful train ride, Ren got off the train and walked up into the back alleys of the district known as Yongen-Jaya. After walking and asking around for a few minutes, Ren discovered his caretaker was working at a place called Cafe Leblanc, which Ren had already walked by.

When Ren entered the cafe, he noticed an elderly couple sitting and talking about the accidents that have been occurring recently and behind the counter was an elderly man working on a crossword puzzle, and Ren assumed this was Sojiro Sakura. Sakura turned to him and sighed as he put down the newspaper.

“They did say that was today.” Sakura seemed unsympathetic towards Ren, which seemed like a commonality in this city.

“Ah we’ll be going. The payment’s on the table.” The elderly woman told the restaurant owner.

“Thanks for coming.” Sakura thanked his customers as they stood up.

“This place is in the back alley, so no worries of an accident here.” The elderly man nodded as he grabbed his bag.

“Huh? Those’re none of my business.” Sakura dismissed as the two elders went to the door, which Ren instinctively opened the door for them.

“Ah, such a kind young man.” The older woman smiled as the couple left the restaurant.

“Two hours for just a single cup of joe.” Sakura sighed, but it didn’t seem sad but one of acceptance

“I wonder what kind of unruly kid would show up, but you’re the one.” Sakura stated and Ren nodded.

“Please take care of me.” Ren politely lowered his head. Even if he didn’t care for his uncaring attitude, Sakura would be his caretaker and needed some respect.

“Hmph. At least your parents gave some manners to you.” Sakura said and Ren snarled, making Sakura surprised.

“Those two are not my parents. They did not give a monkey’s ass about me when I got arrested for saving a woman. They didn’t even pay bail. I only consider them the people that birthed me, nothing else.” Ren stated with venom and Sakura sighed.

“Fine. All that matters now is you’re staying with me because of your aunt’s request. But let me say this once, you cause any trouble at school or for my customers, your butt is meeting the curb. Got it?” Sakura informed Ren, who nodded reluctantly.

“You better. Now I got the jist of your situation. As you said, you tried to stop a guy from pushing himself onto a woman, you got in trouble and now are on probation for the next year. That’s what you get for interfering with adult business.” Sakura berated slightly and Ren was fuming inwardly, but kept it to himself.

“Tomorrow, we’ll be heading to Shujin Academy to properly introduce you to the staff. But for now, I’ll show you to your room.” Sakura motioned for Ren to follow him upstairs and Ren found himself led to a large attic room that seemed like a dump. Old dusty books aligned the shelves, all sorts of random things on the ground, a gasoline can was by an old tree, which Ren knew was a fire hazard. The floor was also caked in dust and seemed untouched for a long while. It was a mess and the only good thing was a window and cleaning supplies in the corner. 

“This will be your room while you’re in my custody. I’ll at least give you sheets. The rest is up to you,” Sakura told his new ward, who looked a bit uncomfortable, “You have something to say?”

“It’s…” Ren was unsure of what to say and decided upon what was on his mind, “big.” It was at least one upside to his old room. This room was double the size.

Sakura sighed and shook his head, “You mean it’s a mess. Don’t sugarcoat your words. Whatever. Your belongings were dropped off earlier. They’re in the box. Just remember that if you do anything wrong, I will not hesitate to kick you onto the streets.”

Ren sighed in slight defeat as he felt it was useless to make a comment back to his new careaker.

“Now I’ll let you settle in. I’ve still got a shop to run.” Sakura walked off back downstairs and Ren glanced over at the cleaning supplies and picked them up.

“Well, when life gives you… well lemons would taste better than my life.” Ren snarked to himself as he decided to busy himself by cleaning. First he decided to go through the junk on the shelves to clear room for his box of belongings. After he pushed the box into the bottom shelf of the bookshelf closest to the door, Ren then sorted some of the junk out to make the room a bit less cluttered. By the end of his organizing, most of the junk was on the tarp by the shelf nearest his bed, with the rest of it on said shelf or on a desk across from his bed. Ren decided then to put the sheets Sakura put on the table near the stairs on his bed to make sure he could go to sleep after his cleaning. After this, Ren decided to mop up the floor and also do some dusting. By the time he was done, Ren was exhausted and sat on his bed, proud of his cleaning so far.

After a few minutes, Sakura walked up the stairs and looked slightly surprised.

“I heard some noise up here, but I didn’t think you’d actually be cleaning. But it makes sense that you’d want to keep your room clean,” Sakura commented and Ren gave a tired smirk, “Well I’m gonna be locking up. I made you some curry down on the counter, but don’t touch anything else besides a water bottle. If anything is missing, especially my coffee and curry ingredients, you can kiss the pavement.” 

“Why’d you take me in?” Ren asked after the statement from Sakura as he neared the stairs.

“I was…” Sakura looked unsure of what to say, “just asked to do it and just so happened to agree. Just eat and go to bed.”

Ren waited a couple more minutes in his new bed and then felt enough energy to go downstairs and eat. When he sat at the counter, there was a plate of curry along with a water bottle. Ren glanced at the door and saw the open side of the sign facing him and knew Sakura had left already. As he ate the delicious curry, Ren’s mind went back to think about what had led him to this point.

_ It happened in late February. After a shift at the local arcade, Ren Amamiya was heading home late after the arcade had closed at eight o’clock. Ren walked down the same path as he usually did but as he kept walking, he heard loud voices in the distance. He could barely not hear them, but as he turned the corner he finally heard the screams of the woman clearly. _

_ “Help! Someone help me!” Ren noticed a man and woman on the side of the street, with a visibly drunk man tightly holding the woman’s wrist and trying to force her into the car. _

_ “Get in the goddamn car!” The man ordered and Ren saw red in his fury. This drunk man was trying to take advantage of the woman. He couldn’t just watch and do nothing. Ren dropped his bag with his work clothes and ran towards the two fighting. _

_ Before he got there, he heard some other parts of what they said. _

_ “People like you just need to watch where I steer this country. Now get in the car!” The drunk man arrogantly ordered and the woman looked scared. _

_ “I… I’ll call the cops.” The woman nervously threatened and the man laughed. _

_ “Try it! The cops are my bitches. They won’t listen to a word you say.” The man boasted and Ren felt more anger. He knew this was probably a politician with his words and it made him mad that the people leading the country would act like this. _

_ “Hey asshat! Leave the woman alone.” Ren finally reached the two and the man scowled. _

_ “Great, we have company. This wouldn’t have happened if you just got into the car.” The man snarled at the woman and pulled her harder to the car and Ren growled in anger as he grabbed the man by the shoulders, getting him to let go of the man, and pulled him away from the woman and she sighed in relief as Ren let go. But as Ren let go, the man tumbled and hit his forehead against the concrete and started bleeding as cop sirens neared. _

_ “Damn brat! I’ll sue!” The man threatened and Ren thought for a second he was delusional until within a minute, the woman he saved had sided with the drunk man out of fear and Ren was the one put into a cop car, with the man glaring at him as he was shipped off to the town jail, where he stayed until his trial as his parents refused to pay bail. Ren’s memories of the trial and jail time were hazy, but knew all the evidence presented was fabricated and just used to further incriminate him. When released to his parents on probation, he found out that he was expelled from school and none of his friends returned his calls. His parents let him wallow in his suffering alone, but a family friend came over one day and noticed Ren’s dilemma and offered the solution of him staying in Tokyo while on his probation and try to keep out of trouble in the city. His parents agreed and next thing he knew, he was shipped off to Sojiro Sakura for the remainder of his probation. _

Ren sighs as he recalls that night, the night that would ultimately lead him here. An attic of a coffee shop of a friend of his aunt’s. Just fucking great.

As Ren laid in bed, he pulled out his phone and found that app from earlier still there, the one that made the world stand still. The one that showed him that demon.

“What are you exactly?” Ren tried to click on it again but it was not opening and he grunted in frustration as he put his phone on a shelf nearby where he pushed some junk out of the way for his phone to be. As he laid on the hard futon, he somehow managed to fall asleep despite his undesirable situation.

**_As Ren blinked he found himself in a room of blue velvet and found himself laying in a bed. He was disoriented as he tried to stand up and looked around and saw himself in a jail cell. Complete with a small toilet, another undesirable bed, and a ball and chain on his ankle._ **

**_“What kinda dream is this?” Ren wondered aloud as a chuckle is heard from outside the cell and Ren sees two children warden approach his cell’s door and the one with hair buns bangs on the bars with a baton._ **

**_“On your feet prisoner! Our master wishes to talk with you.” The girl demands loudly and the other sighs quietly._ **

**_“He’s already on his feet Caroline. Please approach the door Trickster so you can talk with our master.” The other girl, differentiated with a hair braid and… Ren noticed they’re both wearing eyepatches on opposite eyes and wondered silently why._ **

**_Ren decided to approach the cell door and both wardens back away for a moment as another person comes into view, a man who Ren immediately noticed had a very long nose. He decided he’d call him Pinnochio for now._ **

**_“Welcome Trickster to my Velvet Room,” The man greeted with a deep voice and Ren raised an eyebrow at the word Trickster, “I am delighted to make your acquaintance.”_ **

**_“Where are we? What is this place? Is this a dream?” Ren asked quickly and Caroline banged her baton on the door again._ **

**_“Know your place inmate! Treat our master with respect.” Caroline demanded and Ren rolled his eyes at her trying to be threatening._ **

**_“This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room only those bound by a contract may enter. I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well.” The now named Igor informed, ignoring the outburst from Caroline. Ren nodded and decided to keep the Pinnochio nickname silent for now until he figured this out._ **

**_“I summoned you here to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well.” Igor stated and Ren growled._ **

**_“So you’re threatening me now? What did you do actually? Did you kidnap me?” Ren asked with irritation in his voice._ **

**_“As our master stated, this place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. This is happening during your sleep. You will still awaken back where you were before.” The other girl, the noticeably calmer one, informed and Igor nodded before continuing._ **

**_“Still this is a surprise. The state of this room reflects one’s heart. To think, a prison would appear as such. You truly are a prisoner of fate. In the future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you.” Igor said ominously and Ren looked unsure._ **

**_“I think I’d rather avoid ruin.” Ren stated bluntly and Igor gave a light smile and chuckle._ **

**_“Haha, worry not. There is a means to avoid this fate. You must be rehabilitated… rehabilitated towards freedom… that is your only means to avoid the coming ruin. Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?” Igor explained as he looked at Ren expectantly._ **

**_“What does that mean? Distortion?” Ren questioned and Igor tapped his fingers on his desk he sat at._ **

**_“Allow me to observe your path to rehabilitation,” The two wardens then stood at the sides of the desk where Igor sat, “Ah pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline, to your left Justine; they serve as wardens here.” Igor introduced and Caroline huffed._ **

**_“Hmph, try and struggle all you like.” Caroline taunted and Ren still ignored her trying to be intimidating and failing._ **

**_“The duty of the wardens is to protect the inmates. We are also your collaborators… that is if you remain obedient.” Justine stated as she tapped her pen on her clipboard._ **

**_“I shall explain the roles of these two at another occasion. Now it seems the night is waning… it is almost time. Take your time to get accustomed to this place. We will surely meet again… eventually.” Igor finished off as an alarm rang loudly in Ren’s ears._ **

**_“Time’s up! Now hurry up and go back to sleep!” Caroline ordered and banged her baton on the bars once again and Ren blinked and blacked out back to his regularly scheduled sleeping._ **

Ren opened his eyes and found himself back in the attic, with his alarm going off. He groaned and quickly went to turn off the alarm on his phone. Like any student, he hated waking up.

“Looks like you’re up.” Sojiro Sakura’s voice came up the stairs and as Ren rubbed his eyes to wake up, the man was at the top of the stairs.

“Well then, once you get changed, let’s go introduce ourselves properly to the staff about your transfer. The school you’re going to is in the Aoyoma District. It’ll take a while to get there by train. Transfers are a real hassle too. I’ll drive you there, but just for today. Let’s go.” Sakura went back down the stairs to wait as Ren put on some clothes.

As Ren got ready, his mind went back to the room he had found himself in last night. A prison of blue velvet. Pinnochio, trying too hard to be angry, and Justine. Justine was the only one of the three he felt comfort towards. Pinnochio was… there was something off putting about the long nosed man. And Caroline… well she hated him and yelled at him and barely knew him, so respect hasn’t been given so he wouldn’t give respect back. Justine just had a calming presence there compared to the other two. And something about the twins seemed… familiar somehow.

Ren shook his head of thoughts as he finally put his shoes on and went down to the cafe proper and followed Sakura into the car to go to the school to introduce themselves. As they drove, Sakura focused on the road and Ren watched the buildings fly by, still stuck in his thoughts.

“In more recent news, Alice Hiiragi is now refusing to appear publicly. This is quite a shock as Alice is a more recent rise in terms of fashion, art and singing. She has become quite a large name in the industry and now refusing to appear in public seems unusual.” The radio mentioned and Ren barely paid attention to it as they parked and entered into a school and Ren just silently walked and listened as Sakura talked with the principal about his situation and how he should just keep obedient and do well in school and that he should be grateful for being here.

“Here’s your student ID.” The teacher next to the principal told him, he thinks the principal called her Kawakami. Ren did pay attention but would rather get this over with. Ren went to grab it and noticed something under it. Kawakami quickly grabbed the thing under it as Ren stored that info in his memory for later because it might be useful.

“Now before classes tomorrow, meet me in the faculty office on the second floor. If you have trouble finding it, I am sure your classmates will let you know where it is.” Kawakami informed Ren, who nodded silently as she left the office and he and Sakura followed close behind.

“Kid you were really quiet in there. Something up?” Sakura asked as they got to the car and Ren snarled.

“Sorry if I’m still upset at my situation and don’t want to talk to assholes like that principal.” Ren retorted with an eye twitch and Sakura sighed.

“Kid you’re gonna have to get used to listening to adults. Sometimes they do know what they’re talking about. Besides kid, you’re already on thin ice so I’d recommend doing what the principal says.” Sakura told Ren, who just got in the car and refused to speak again. Sakura sighed and shook his head.

“Guess I’m going to have to get used to your silence kid.” Sakura adjusted his hat as he got back in the car to drive them back to Leblanc. Unbeknownst to either in the vehicle, a certain gym teacher and volleyball coach was talking with Kawakami and already plotting against Ren Amamiya. After the conversation finished, said volleyball coach got on the phone.

“Remember Mishima, if you don’t leak his record by tomorrow morning, I am going to increase your special training until I break you.” The coach threatened over the phone.

“Yes Mr. Kamoshida. I’ll get right on it.” A panicky voice sounded through the phone as Kamoshida now closed the phone and a cough was heard nearby and a red haired girl with long hair and glasses looked at the coach and then sprinted away. Kamoshida scowled at this.

“Damned girl. I’ll take care of her tomorrow.” Kamoshida promised to himself as the girl ran out of the school, breathing heavily.

“Kamoshida-sensei is going to leak someone’s information? Why?” The girl wondered to herself as she shook herself straight and kept walking normally, a slight shake in her walk as she walked towards the train station to go somewhere to relax.

Meanwhile, Ren and Sojiro Sakura had gotten held up in a traffic jam. Sakura explained that this was due to the train incidents going on.

“I don’t get it. Why does everyone not care about the lives lost on those trains?” Ren decided to ask Sakura who just sighed.

“It’s been happening for two years now and they’ll probably continue to happen. It’s part of that whole psychotic or mental breakdowns or whatever they’re called.” Sakura answered dismissively and Ren looked on with disbelief. Two years and they haven’t figured out the problem? Ren could tell something was going on here, he just didn’t know what.

“There was actually a regular accident that got attention recently. A girl ran out into traffic and got hit by a truck. Apparently her sister was the one who was going to be hit but she saved her. Poor girl. Who knows what she’s going through.” Sakura looked upset as he brought this up and Ren nodded. He could understand at least a regular accident getting more attention since it would be a break from big stuff. He did hope that the sister was alright after that incident.

It took awhile, but finally Ren and his caretaker arrived back at the cafe and Sakura sighed as they entered.

“It’s too late in the day to open shop. Might as well do some inventory and cleaning. Kid, why don’t you explore around Yongen a bit, get to know the area since you’ll be here for the next year.” Sakura suggested as he went over to the closet to get out cleaning supplies.

“When do you want me back here?” Ren decided to ask so he would not get into trouble.

“Get back at eight o’clock, so you have three hours, kid.” Sakura said as he got out a broom and dustpan and Ren nodded as he went outside and looked around. There were more houses and buildings here than he had ever seen back home. City life would probably be hard to adjust to.

“So what is there around here?” Ren put his hands into his pockets as he decided to take a walk around. He walked by some small shops, both open and outside, and in the buildings themselves. An old vendor tried to get his attention to buy some stuff, but he had no money to waste at the moment so he kept walking instead. Ren was always an anomaly back home, most people would stop and talk to everyone who wanted to talk to them, but Ren had already had a stigma back home so he mostly kept to himself unless needed otherwise.

As Ren kept walking, he heard some metal cages being hit on a building and when he looked up he saw some batting cages on a building. Strange place for them, but Ren couldn’t judge. Batting cages were batting cages and he always went to them back home to relieve some stress.

Ren decides to walk up to the batting cages and notices a sign that says that this time of day is when no prizes can be won, but the cages are open to all. Ren shrugs and decides to just go with it. He grabs a bat and enters one of the cages as a red haired girl in another cage notices him and watches him as he enters. Ren goes to the machine and sets it to the highest difficulty and then prepares himself.

The ball flew at lightning speeds but Ren swung with power and speed and managed to hit the ball high, making the girl who had seen him enter widen her eyes as she had never been able to do what he just did. The girl turns off her machine as she continues to watch the boy continue to hit the balls with the accuracy and power to make a pro baseball player blush.

The girl became so entranced with it and kept watching for a while until Ren decided to take a break and turned it off and finally noticed the girl watching him from outside the cages. Ren smirked at this and rested the bat on the cage as he went to talk to her.

“Heya. Like what you see?” Ren winked and the girl shook her head and blinked and blushed at this.

“You… I have never been able to do that setting. How’d you do it? Is there some trick? You were really good.” The girl stumbled over her words as she speed talked and Ren chuckled.

“I’ve been doing batting cages since I was a kid. Not much else to do out in a run down old town like where I came from.” Ren shook his head as he recalled his hometown.

“Oh! You’re new here? But your uniform… isn’t that a Shujin uniform? Wouldn’t you have been here for a while since classes started last month and transfers only happen at the beginning of the year?” The girl asked and Ren looked down and realized he was still wearing that school uniform he put on earlier before going to talk to the principal.

“I’m… a bit of a special case.” Ren stated simply and the girl looked confused and then her eyes went wide.

“Oh I haven’t introduced myself have I? I am K… Sumire Yoshizawa.” Sumire bowed politely and Ren gave her a slight smirk.

“Do you know how to get to the school for classes tomorrow? I can show you if you want me to.” Sumire offered and Ren shrugged.

“Sure. Where do you want to meet up?” Ren asked and Sumire looked thoughtful for a second before smiling brightly.

“I’ll meet you at the station here in Yongen Jaya. I live around here and this is the only place I know you know.” Sumire suggested and Ren nodded.

“I live nearby too. So that works out.” Ren agreed and Sumire smiled at him before bowing slightly.

“I’ll talk to you later… uh… I didn’t ask your name did I?” Sumire looked sheepish and Ren gave a smirk.

“I’m Ren Amamiya. Nice to meet you Yoshizawa. I have to head back ‘home’ for now.” Ren looked a bit offput by saying home but Sumire did not pick this up.

“It was a pleasure to meet you Amamiya-kun.” Sumire smiled at him and Ren smiled back before he went to grab the bat and put it back where he got it as Sumire got her own things together. Ren gave her one last look as he saw her clean her glasses as he shook his head and walked back to Leblanc.

“She is quite sweet. I am glad I met her as the first student from the school.” Ren thought to himself as he entered Leblanc and saw Sakura washing the dishes.

“I’m almost done here. When I lock up, I trust you to not break anything or mess with anything. I’ll be able to tell.” Sakura warned him and Ren nodded as he walked back upstairs and goes to sit on his bed after changing into pajamas.

“Velvet Room, Shujin, Yoshizawa… what a day.” Ren told himself as he heard the door to the cafe close behind Sakura and Ren sighed.

“Hey at least not everything is super horrible. Maybe school might actually be a good thing here compared to back home.” Ren tried to reassure himself, but he knew he was probably just lying to himself. If he knew anything about teenagers, it’s that they liked to talk. And if they got a hold on his criminal record, he was gonna not be able to keep his head down. Unbeknownst to him, his record had just been leaked online and nearly everyone at Shujin Academy was spreading rumors about him online.

Ren decided that he should go to sleep so he wouldn’t be tired for his first day so he laid on the futon and within ten minutes he was able to fall asleep, unknowing that the next day would entirely change the course of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading chapter one of Humani Generis Est Spe (ok so basically I google translated some stuff into latin for the title and chapter titles. If I have the incorrect translation, please let me know and I will fix it). I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. This is probably going to be quite a big project of mine and I don't know how often I will update it. Hopefully enough to not leave you all out to dry. I think future chapters will be longer than this one. I am going to be trying to do every confidant and hoo boy, I have more to do than canon Royal had. Some confidants will be the same to an extent, some will be entirely different, and some are entirely new. I have my work set out for me. I have stuff planned and I don't think I've seen people do stuff like what I have planned. I do not have everything planned out yet, but up to the first Mementos visit has main plot stuff planned out, not including smaller stuff I could do. Hopefully you enjoyed what I have here and enjoy what I will bring in the future.


	2. Ego Te

# Chapter Two: Ego Te

_Ren found himself in an unknown place, red vines and broken train tracks nearby. The entire interior was of a red and black design, giving an eerie sense of dread. Ren found himself walking forward as trains full of faceless people roared by him, but he kept walking. As he walked further and further down, he found himself getting hotter and hotter until the vines were covered in blue and red flames, dancing in unison as the vines burned for eternity. As he walked, unable to stop himself, the flames also erupted from the train tracks, making Ren have to walk on fire. Yet still he had to keep walking._

_“Will you embrace the flames of damnation or make these flames those of warmth and comfort? Which path will you choose? What will your fate be? Who will you accept or reject?” A female and male voice sounded in Ren’s ears. The male sounded a combination of demonic and like a rough thief, and the female sounded embracing yet harsh at the same time. Two paths opened up, one in red flames, and one in flames of blue. Ren looked at both. Choice? Fate? Fuck fate! Ren took a step forward and suddenly he felt chains around his feet break and fall into blue and red flames. Ren looked at both tunnels of flames and strode forward in between them and held his hand against the burning wall. It both hurt and felt comforting. Suddenly the wall collapsed and a tunnel of blue and red flames opened in front of him and Ren walked forward into it._

_“Good. Fate is never determined. You choosing the third path shows this. Now awaken to reality and we shall meet again soon, ourself.” Both female and male voice spoke as the flames turned into a white light and _ Ren found himself back in the attic of Leblanc, yawning as he pondered what that dream meant as he got changed and went downstairs and saw Sumire drinking some coffee at the bar and Sakura nodded at him.   
“I made you some curry before you head off to school. Go ahead and eat up. Can’t have you starving.” Sakura tells Ren, who sits down at the bar and Sumire looks over at him and smiles as she puts down her drink.

“Good morning Amamiya-kun. I didn’t know you lived with Sakura-san.” Sumire greeted and Sakura overheard this.

“Seems you already met another kid your age, and one of my regulars at that. From what I know, she’s a year younger than you, and yet she knows more about that school than you.” Sakura teased and Ren rolled his eyes as he ate his curry.

“Oh, we met at the batting cages last night. Amamiya… uh Amamiya-senpai I suppose now, was doing the hardest setting and hit all of them.” Sumire explained how they meet and Sakura raised an eyebrow.

“Didn’t take you for a baseball kind of kid.” Sakura commented as he cleaned some tables off from previous customers.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” Ren offhandedly stated and Sumire brightened up at this.

“Then I’ll be your friend and learn more about you.” Sumire smiled and Ren looked offput a bit. No one had wanted to be his friend this quickly before.

“Haha, already winning people over and without my advice. Good going kid.” Sakura smirked and Ren wanted to plunge his face into the curry after that but the curry was too good so he just ate it instead and afterwards he put on his backpack as he waited for Sumire to thank Sakura.

“I hope you get a lot of customers today Sakura-san. Thank you for the coffee and curry. It is still delicious as always.” Sumire thanked and Sakura smiled at her.

“Thanks. Remember to take care of yourself and make sure that kid doesn’t cause you any problems.” Sakura thanked before going back to his work as Ren and Sumire exited the doors and headed to the train station, with Sumire making some small talk along the way, which Ren obliged in. As they entered the train, Ren noticed how packed it was compared to when he arrived.

“Welcome to Tokyo.” Sumire jokingly welcomed and Ren sighed. He’d have to deal with this all year, which seemed to not annoy the people here but for Ren, he hated tight spaces. Oh he was going to just hate this.

“So, what made you transfer this time of year senpai?” Sumire asked as they were walking to transfer to the next train to finally reach Aoyama-Itchome, where Shujin was located. Sumire said they had to find the Ginza Line, which Ren had no idea where it was.

“I’d rather not say right now. Let’s just say I had no choice in the matter.” Ren said as he looked off in the distance at the rolling in rain clouds. Great, it was going to be bad weather today.

“Ah I’m sorry if I was trying to push you at all about it.” Sumire apologized and Ren shook his head.

“It’s not your fault. No need to apologize.” Ren told her and Sumire nodded as they finally arrived at the Ginza Line and Ren inwardly groaned at having to take another crowded train. At least this time, he and Sumire were able to get seats before it filled up entirely from people. As they rode off, Ren noticed the rain start to come down and Sumire noticed it too.

“Oh no, I forgot to bring an umbrella today.” Sumire lamented as they arrived at the station and saw students start bringing out their umbrella and Ren looked up.

“If the wind doesn’t pick up, we might be able to make it. But if it’s too hard, we should get beneath somewhere so we don’t show up drenched.” Ren suggested and Sumire nodded as she looked at the rain and shuddered slightly.

Ren and Sumire started walking out in the rain when suddenly the rain picked up and they were forced to go under the cover of a building to protect from rain. As they both were shaking the water off themselves, another student in a jacket with their hood up stopped next to them and pulled off their hood to reveal blonde and long hair in bushy pigtails and she straightened her hair without noticing either of the two besides her, who both looked at her, stunned by her beauty. Sumire then realized she was staring and turned away, blushing. After a minute, the rain and wind settled down as a car pulled up to them.

“Hey Takamaki, need a ride?” A man asked from the car as the window was rolled down and Ren raised an eyebrow at this. Who was this dude?  
“Uh, sure.” Takamaki hesitantly accepted and got in the car but as she got in, Ren noticed the sadness in her eyes that was not there before.

“How about you and your friend there, do you need a ride?” The man decided to ask and Ren raised up his hands and shook his head and the man shrugged as they rode off. As he drove off, a blonde, more so yellow, haired boy came running after the car.

“Damn that pervy teacher!” The boy yelled in frustration and Sumire turned around at the commotion.

“Huh? There was a teacher?” Sumire asked as she finally came back to reality from her flustered state.

“Pervy teacher?” Ren asked, unconsciously clicking on the app that had appeared the other day and a small ding sounding out.

“Huh? Who’re you two? Don’t you know Kamoshida?” The boy asked and Ren shook his head and Sumire tilted her head.

“I met him before. My parents warned me to keep away from him due to the injuries the volleyball team always has.” Sumire supplied and the boy scoffs.

“Wow one smart student amongst everyone in that damned school ignoring everything. Least your parents aren’t turning a blind eye.” The boy comments and turns to Ren, “Seriously though, you don’t know one Suguru Kamoshida? That bastard of a teacher thinks that the school is his castle.” After saying this the phone beeped twice again and Ren ignored it.

“Today is my first day. I’m transferring to Shujin and Yoshizawa was showing me the way.” Ren informed and the boy nodded.

“Ah gotcha. You’re lucky you don’t know him then. Hey, I’ll show you a shortcut to the school so we aren’t late.” The boy offered and started walking when suddenly a flash of purple came to Ren’s vision and he grasped his head in pain.

“It begins.” The female and male voice from last night rang in Ren’s head in his pain and didn’t notice Sumire and the blonde boy also grasping their heads.

“Hoist the sails, our journey is about to embark.” A more gruff and rough voice sounded in the blonde’s head as he didn’t see Ren or Sumire in the same pain.

“A beautiful beginning is it not?” Sumire heard a soft and comforting voice in her head as she tried to shake off the pain she had just had in her head.

“Ugh my head. Anyways, let’s go.” The boy started walking and Ren and Sumire both ignored their previous headaches as they followed the blonde into an alley, not noticing the sky turn a purple hue.

“Name’s Ryuji Sakamoto by the way,” Ryuji introduced as they followed him down the alley and they also supplied their own names to be polite and Ryuji reached the end of the alley first, “and here we… are?”

Ryuji stepped out from the alley and seemed to be in shock as Ren and Sumire followed him out and saw what shocked him. A castle that went up to the clouds with purple clouds forming around it.

“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” Ren joked, still in a state of shock himself as Sumire read the sign outside.

“Uh this says it’s Shujin, but I don’t think a school can turn into a castle.” Sumire added in and Ren looked suspicious at this as suddenly the gate to the castle opened and out ran guards with blue masks on and giant swords and shields.

“What the actual fuck?!” Ryuji swore as he turned around and noticed the city was all the same except for the castle.

“Let’s hide somewhere.” Ren suggested as the guards started swarming out and Ryuji cracked his neck and Sumire gulped nervously. 

“Come on!” Ren yelled as they both followed him back down the alley, to make the amount of guards able to follow lesser.

“Get the trespassers!” A guard in golden armor shouted out as the guards continued to follow them.

“Up the fire escape!” Sumire pointed to and Ryuji jumped up to it and pulled the ladder down and fell back on his butt. Ren helped him up as Sumire quickly went up the escape.

“This is definitely not good for my leg.” Ryuji bemoaned as they both went up the ladder and Ren had to kick a guard off as Ryuji pulled the fire escape ladder back up so they could not follow.

“Uh guys.” Sumire nervously said as they neared the top of the fire escape and noticed guards now wielding bows and arrows that were now being fired upon them. They all quickly ducked beneath the cement cover the roof provided.

“This has to be a hallucination right?” Ryuji gulped as the storming of the guards got louder and louder and Ren shook his head.

“I’ll distract them. You two get to safety.” Ren offered and Ryuji banged his hand against the wall.

“No way! We aren’t going to let you get killed.” Ryuji refused and Sumire nodded in agreement.

“No way senpai! I can’t lose you just after meeting you.” Sumire looked very scared and Ren looked out at them.

“I’m not going to get myself killed. I’m going to protect you.” Ren smirked as he leapt off the building and landed on a guard’s back, surprisingly without pain, and seamlessly ripped off the mask of the person to try to see what this was. Suddenly the guard fell to the ground in a pool of black ooze and out came a… 

“Is that a fucking Jack Frost?” Ryuji commented from the roof as he looked down as Ren was face to face with a living and breathing Jack Frost, which was usually just a toy line in Japan.

“Hee Ho!” The Jack Frost raised it’s hand and suddenly a ball of ice dropped onto Ren, which would have knocked him to the ground, but suddenly red flames exploded from Ren and completely destroyed the Jack Frost and the ice it summoned. Suddenly the female voice from before rang out in his head.

“Look at this damage. Your friends are in danger. Will you run with this new power for your own safety or protect them?” The voice questioned and Ren scowled.

“Protect them of course.” He whispered to himself and the voice laughed in glee.

“Good kid. You wish to protect right? Protecting others will never be a weakness. Protecting that woman was not a weakness.” The voice supplied and Ren winced. He had been thinking he had been weak after trying to protect someone, but protecting others… that did not make him weak.

“I am thou, thou art I. With the exploding hearth’s flames, let us show these guards they messed with the wrong rebel. I am the hearth of thy soul and it burns brightly!” As the voice said this, suddenly flames erupted around him again as arrows were burned by the power and suddenly a domino mask was on his face.

“Senpai?” Sumire looked confused at what was happening. Where was the fire coming from? Was it from Ren himself?

Ren struggled to take a grip on his mask but grabbed it tightly as the guards started melting into more creatures. A pixie like creature, a two horned horse and even an angel. All three of these erupted from the guards, in mass quantities no less. As they approached, Ren started tugging at the mask but it wouldn’t come off. Suddenly the mask was coming off but it hurt like torture.

Ren cried in pain while he shouted a name as the mask tore off his face and tore his face with it, splattering blood. The name that was cried was…

“HESTIA!” Ren cried out as suddenly a veiled woman with a fiery dress and literal flames as eyes came up from behind Ren and threw her hand in the air and the ground erupted into flames beneath the enemies nearest Ren and Ryuji and Sumire watched in awe as Ren’s attire changed into a fiery dress and Hestia shook her head.

“That won’t do at all. I’ll let Arsene do the outfit.” Hestia spoke out loud, even Sumire and Ryuji hearing her, and suddenly Ren’s outfit changed into a black ankle-length tailcoat, a high-necked waistcoat with gold accents, black pants, brown-black winklepickers and a pair of red gloves. Ren noticed the change and nodded gladly as he and Hestia looked down the hordes of guards.

“Prepare yourself!” Hestia warned and Ren nodded as he twirled the knife in his hand and threw it at a nearby guard, slicing it’s neck and jumped back as Hestia threw a fireball at the shooting archers.

“Find a way to safety.” Hestia told Ren who smirked and jumped on the fire escape again and started shooting with the gun he had found himself with. It felt like a model but it functioned realistically. Ren mowed down the archers who tried to shoot him by him shooting first. Ryuji and Sumire just watched in awe as Ren and the strange being he summoned called Hestia mowed down enemy after enemy. Ren seemed to be becoming exhausted as he kept fighting and Hestia looked down and gave a faint smile as she returned to being a mask on Ren’s face as he was knocked out and Sumire yelled and tried to go for Ren, but Ryuji held her back.

“We can rescue him later when we aren’t also being hunted.” Ryuji pointed out and suddenly an arrow pierced her leg and she screamed in pain as the guards finally reached the rooftops and Ryuji was ready to fight when a guard held a sword to Sumire’s throat.

“Resist ape and we kill her now.” The guard threatened and Ryuji scowled as he raised his hands in surrender and he got hit by the blunt side of the sword and knocked out.

Sumire groaned in pain as she looked around and found herself in a cell with Ren, back in his school uniform, and Ryuji trying to look for an escape.

“Where are we?” Sumire asked as she got out of the prison cell’s futon and Ryuji shrugged.

“This dinky old dungeon of that castle I guess. Damned guards threw all of us in here, but… DAMN IT ALL! We should be at school, as much as I hate that sentence.” Ryuji punched a crate nearby and Ren sighed.

“I’m sorry I failed you both.” Ren apologized and Sumire shook her head.

“You saved us senpai, as much as you could have. Who knows how this happened? You aren’t to blame.” Sumire assured him and tried to get up to pat his back but winced in pain and sat back down.

“Your leg…” Ryuji knelt down by her and Sumire bit her lip at the pain and Ryuji sighed.

“I don’t know what I can do for it right now. She needs to see a doctor immediately.” Ryuji examined and Sumire looked ashamed.

“I’m sorry. You two should probably escape and leave me behind. After all, what’s an athlete worth if they can’t move.” Sumire lamented and Ryuji winced at this statement as a guard’s voice rang out.

“You three, for trespassing and killing the guards of the castle, have been sentenced to death, immediately. Luckily for you, the king has opted to come watch you lowly criminals die.” The guard said and Ryuji banged on the bars of the cell.

“What the hell do you mean king?!” Ryuji demanded as a distorted laughter came from a man, who walked into sight, wearing just a bathrobe and a crown on his head. That isn’t what threw them all off though. What made everyone there worried was the fact that this was Kamoshida, the man they had just seen in the car with the blonde haired girl before they came here.

“No fucking way.” Ryuji looked to be in disbelief as the king chuckled.

“Sakamoto, I thought I had disposed of this nuisance a while ago. As well as the two transfer students who I have yet to deal with. I’ll gladly let my guards take care of you.” The king Kamoshida orders and Ryuji is now pissed off at this and rams into one of the guards.

“Take here and flee.” Ryuji tells them before he is pushed to the ground by a shield and a sword is held up to Ryuji as he is held back up by two other guards. Sumire is kept to the bed with a sword to her neck and Ren is hoisted against the wall, similar to Ryuji.

Kamoshida proceeds to start wailing on Ryuji, punching him in the face, making the guards drop him, and starts kicking him.

“Worthless shit. You should have submitted like everyone else.” Kamoshida spat on him and Ren scowled as the swords around him glimmered under the torchlight and Kamoshida looked lustfully at Sumire.

“I’ll have some fun with you before I kill you.” Kamoshida evilly smirked and Ren’s eyes narrowed as he hoisted Ryuji up against the wall again.

“Time to die.” Kamoshida gleefully announced and Ryuji looked genuinely scared.

“No. No I don’t want to die.” Ryuji looked extremely scared as he was held against the wall and suddenly the entire room went black and time stopped for Ren as he watched a blue buttery of light fly by.

**_“This truly is an unjust game, your chances of winning are almost none. But, if my voice is reaching you, there may be a possibility open to you.” A soft and elegant voice told Ren as a sudden laughter overtook his head as he came back to reality._ **

“What’s the matter? Are you simply going to watch? Are you forsaking him to save yourself? Death awaits him if you do nothing. Was your previous decision a mistake then?” The male voice from before rang in his ears and Ren whispered to himself.

“I… I don’t want him to die. And I chose the correct decision.” Ren told himself and the voice rang with more laughter in his ear.

“Very well… I have heeded your resolve. Vow to me. I am thou, thou art I. Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice! Call upon my name and release thy rage! Show thy strength of will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!” The voice roared its conviction which aligned with Ren’s own. He would show this king his own version of justice and beat him down.

“Execute him!” Kamoshida ordered as a sword was raised against Ryuji who gulped in anticipation as Sumire was helpless as she watched.

“That’s enough!” Ren yelled in rage and Kamoshida’s eyes narrowed as he slowly turned to the boy who yelled against him. No one had ever resisted the king this much before.

“And what would you do peasant, you’re next anyways,” The king spat at the ground next to him, “But if you’re so eager. You’ll learn your place.”

A sword was held above Ren, who was just looking down, waiting for the right moment. And as the sword went to come down, a gust of wind and shadows erupted from behind Ren and blew back all the guards, freeing Ryuji and Sumire, and throwing Kamoshida against a wall. Suddenly Ren had the domino mask back on his face and once again had to tug at it and screamed in pain as he tore it off and the blood flew from his face as well. 

Suddenly a blue flame erupted from Ren’s own body and formed into a shadowy flame of himself behind him and suddenly chains spurt from the ground and surrounded the being, who finally took shape, a red and black colored suited man with a top hat with pure black wings and a misshapen mask on his face.

“I am the pillager of twilight, Arsene!” The now named Arsene proclaimed as he shot a ball of shadows at the guards, who dissipated into the black goo and didn’t reappear.

“What the hell!?” Ryuji exclaimed as Sumire hit his arm and motioned to the open cell door and Ryuji helped her to her feet and led her to the door.

“Don’t let them escape!” Kamoshida ordered and suddenly another guard appeared at the entrance and Ren scowled.

“Arsene, ravage them!” Ren let his rage fuel him and his newfound power and Arsene snapped his fingers and suddenly there was a hole through the chest of the armored guard. 

“Wh… what are you?” Kamoshida backed up in fear and Ren smirked.

“I’m your worst nightmare.” Ren snapped his finger and suddenly there was a crack in the wall next to Kamoshida, who gulped in fear.

“Come on dude!” Ryuji called out as he held the keys and Arsene disappeared as Ren ran out of the room, back in his normal attire, as Ryuji locked up the cell.

“Bastards! My whole castle’s guard will hunt you down!” Kamoshida shook the bars of the cell and Ryuji scoffed.

“Good luck with that bastard.” Ryuji then threw the keys into the waterway below and Sumire was able to balance herself against the wall as they walked away from the fuming king/coach.

Back in reality, Kawakami was lamenting how Ren was late on his first day.

“It’s third period already. He should have been here this morning.” Kawakami bemoaned as she filled out some paperwork she had no time to do before. At least with this time, she could catch up on work.

Back in the castle, the group was making their way through the opened gates on a clear path to where the guards had come from but clearly hadn’t closed behind them. Sumire was especially thankful to this because otherwise she’d be useless in jumping across the gaps over water.

“Hide.” Ren whispered to the two as they approached a doorway to a staircase and they all ducked behind crates as some guards came up from the opposite side of the water. They seemed to be hurrying to where Kamoshida had been so once they had been gone, the group continued up the stairs and found themselves in another open area of cells.

“It’s useless. No escape. Kamoshida will always win.” Voices came from the cells and Ryuji scowled and decided to look into a cell and saw a kid in a volleyball uniform.

“I’ll get you out!” Ryuji slammed against the cell but the cage refused to budge.

“Sakamoto, leave them for now. We’d be too big of a target to free everyone before the king catches us.” Ren advised and Ryuji lamented and continued to follow Ren and help Sumire as they found a drawbridge next to a statue of Kamoshida’s head.

“Hey what’s that?” Sumire noticed something further along the cells as Ren and Ryuji studied the bridge.

“How do we drop this thing?” Ryuji wondered as Sumire shrieked and Ren and Ryuji quickly ran over to her.

“What is that?” Sumire asked in fear as they saw a cat-like creature in the cell who just shook its head.

“I’m a prisoner here. I’m Morgana and I know the layout of the castle and can help you escape. What do you say?” Morgana asked and Ryuji looked at it with doubt.

“What if it’s like the guards and wants to kill us? We should find our own way out.” Ryuji crossed his arms and Sumire hit his arm.

“He’s offering to help us. Besides, why would he be locked up if he was on the king’s side?” Sumire rebutted and Ryuji let his shoulders relax.

“Fine. Just don’t backstab us, got it cat?” Ryuji held up a fist to seem threatening.

“I’m not a cat!” Morgana yelled and Ren rolled his eyes. Quite a group here. Ren looked around for a key and scowled and decided to pull out his knife he got earlier when he summoned Hestia and Arsene and lockpicked the lock on the cell.

“Thanks scruffy hair. Now you see that statue over there? Pull down on the mouth of it.” Morgana advised and Ryuji walked over to it and scowled as he pulled down on the mouth as Ren helped Sumire to the bridge.

“What’s up with red hair?” Morgana asked and Ren shrugged and Ryuji snarled.

“Those damned guard archers of Kamoshida shot an arrow through her leg. Damned bastard will pay.” Ryuji seemed angry even remembering what happened.

“I got this. Dia!” Morgana announced and suddenly a large masked man appeared behind Morgana and suddenly a gust of green fell down on Sumire and she looked refreshed.

“My leg… it feels better.” Sumire stretched her leg and bowed to Morgana.

“Thank you Morgana.” Sumire thanked and Morgana rubbed his paws behind his head.

“It was nothing. Now, let’s get going before we get caught.” Morgana led them down the path when suddenly guards came down the stairwell and Morgana scoffed as the clothes reappeared on Ren.

“A… ahh shit it’s them.” Ryuji backed up in fear and Sumire reflexively went to protect her leg.

“Tch, you amateurs. Hey you, you can fight right? Follow my lead.” Morgana nodded at Ren and he nodded as he brandished his knife as the shadows melted away into floating pumpkins with flames and an angel like outside where Hestia and him tore through waves of them.

“Come…” Morgana raised his hands as he jumped up and suddenly the being from before reappeared and swung its sword in a Z motion, cutting through the pumpkin, but not killing it yet, “Zorro!”

“Y-you got one of those too?” Ryuji questioned, more relieved than anything, but the questioning was unnecessary as he saw it just a few minutes ago when Sumire got healed.

“Hmph. We will promptly shut them up.” Morgana proclaimed as Ren tore off his mask again, with much less effort and pain, and Arsene appeared again.

“Pillage them!” Ren ordered and shadows erupted beneath the angel, turning it back into black goop.

“Not bad. But watch this. Zorro, Garu!” Morgana commanded and the being shot a burst of wind at the pumpkin, throwing it to the wall and dissipating it. 

“Good work. Now come on.” Morgana waved to them as Ren’s clothes disappeared once again and the three students followed Morgana up to an open room that was definitely more decorated than the dungeons.

“This is the entrance area, but they’ll be expecting us out the normal exit. Come on.” Morgana continued to lead them into a different room, a small library of sorts.

“Great, lead us to a dead end.” Ryuji deadpanned and Morgana rolled his eyes.

“No he didn’t. Look, a vent to the outside.” Ren pointed out and Ryuji’s eyes lit up as he got onto the bookshelf and tore off the cover of the vent.

“Thank you so much Morgana.” Sumire bowed in thanks to the cat creature.

“Are you coming with us?” Ren asked and Morgana shook his head.

“Sorry but I still have business in this castle. We’ll part ways here.” Morgana informed and Sumire pat his head.

“Thank you. I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.” Sumire smiled and Morgana nodded as Ryuji jumped up to the vent and helped Sumire up to it as Ren followed behind and watched as Morgana saw them leave.

“Those three could be useful to my endeavors… especially scruffy hair.” Morgana mused to himself once they were out of earshot.

As the group got out of the vent, suddenly Ren’s phone spoke to them after being quiet for so long.

“Would you wish to leave the Metaverse?” The phone asked as Ren fished it out of his pockets and stared at it.

“I would advise answering that.” Hestia sounded in his head and Ren nodded.

“Yes.” Ren spoke to the phone and suddenly the world started shifting back into black and red colors and suddenly the three had found themselves back at where they had first met.

“What was that shit?” Ryuji asked as he looked around and saw regular people walking around and no masked guards.

“We… didn’t dream that did we?” Sumire asked as she looked to try to see if any archers would shoot her leg again.

“Hey kids! Shouldn’t you be in school? Playing hooky are we?” A cop came up to them and accused them and Ren looked at his phone and gulped when he saw the time.

“No effing way. We were…” Ryuji started to speak but Ren kicked his shin.

“I was lost on my way here and they both offered to help me find the way to school after they got held up by train delays.” Ren perfectly lied and the cop nodded and nodded his head towards the direction of Shujin.

“School’s that way kids. Better hope your teachers don’t yell at you for arriving at lunch.” The cop sneered as the three went on their way, knowing better than to cause a scene.

“Let’s keep our heads down for now. Let’s meet up after school to talk.” Ren told them, thinking rationally about the situation.

“Ok senpai. It was really cool though how you summoned Arsene and Hestia.” Sumire told Ren in awe and he rubbed the back of his head as they finally got to the school and saw Kamoshida standing alongside another male staff member.

“Sakamoto! This is your fifth time late this semester,” The other man scolded and Ryuji scoffed at this, “Follow me to the guidance office.”

“Shit face.” Ryuji muttered as he walked by Kamoshida, who didn’t pay the kid any attention. His attention then turned to Sumire and Ren.

“What makes you two so late, Yoshizawa, and with this boy? Because I know I saw you two right before school.” Kamoshida said with an evil glint in his eyes and Sumire shuddered at this.

“Oh, uh…” Sumire stumbled over her words and Ren decided to speak up.

“Sumire and I got held up by some thugs and Ryuji decided to help us.” Ren explained, lying through his teeth and Kamoshida stared him down before nodding.

“That’s fine. You two should get to class then.” Kamoshida nodded to them before walking off, giving a facade of a good teacher but Ren could still see how the king acted in the way he spoke falsely and the glint in his eyes.

“Thank you sensei.” Sumire bowed slightly, but there was hesitance in doing so towards the man who tried to sentence them to death in that castle.

As Sumire and Ren walked inside, Sumire smiled at him before leaving him at the staircase so she could go to her own class. Ren then walked to the second floor and kept overhearing small talk.

“Did you hear, I heard he carries a knife?” A girl loudly whispered to her friend while pointing at Ren.

“Pointing is rude you know.” Ren casually mentioned as the girl squeaked and turned away in fear as Ren shook his head and walked to the faculty office to find Kawakami filling out paperwork still.

“Finally you’re here. I don’t care why or how you are late. We only have one period left in the day,” Kawakami sighed, “You better head home soon after school because we called Sakura-san to tell him about your tardiness. By the way classes end early today due to the train accidents.”

Kawakami motioned for Ren to follow her and they headed to Class 2-D, where the entire class was waiting and they all started muttering when Kawakami walked in with Ren.

“Hello class. I would like to introduce to you our new transfer student. Go ahead and introduce yourself.” Kawakami motioned for Ren to talk, who just rolled his eyes.

“I’m Ren Amamiya and don’t think I can’t hear those wild rumors you are literally whispering right now.” Ren smirked and the people talking gulped as they promptly shut up.

“Thank you… there is an empty seat behind Takamaki in the far row. Please take a seat.” Kawakami told him and Ren shrugged as he walked over to sit down. He recognized her as the girl who Kamoshida had picked up in his car before school.

“Lies.” Takamaki whispered and Ren raised an eyebrow as people started literally making up more rumors because Ren recognized Takamaki.

“Do those two know each other?” Someone whispered and Ren wanted to bang his head into the window nearby. These students were hellhounds for rumors and gossip. Ren was ready to just leap out the window so they would shut up about him. Instead Ren just silently went through the rest of the period, scribbling in a notebook some sketches of Hestia and Arsene.

“Arsene looks a bit more intense than that.” Hestia pointed out in his head and Ren’s eyes widened but looked around and noticed no one heard her.

“And dearest Hestia has a bit more flare in thine eyes.” Arsene critiqued and Ren rolled his eyes. He wasn’t even the best artist to begin with.

After just ten more minutes, class ended early and the students all started chattering loudly as Ren made his way out of the classroom as Arsene snarked that the king talked less than these kids did.

“Hey!” Ryuji waved at him and Ren nodded as he walked up to him and Sumire walked up the staircase.

“Hello senpais.” Sumire greeted and Ryuji gave her a thumbs up.

“So where do you want to talk about… you know?” Ren asked and Ryuji thought for a second and then nodded.

“Let’s go to the roof. Shouldn’t have any eavesdroppers.” Ryuji responded and Ren and Sumire followed him up the stairs to the top floor and found the door unlocked. Ryuji led them outside and then sat down on a chair left up there.

“So… anyone know what the eff happened earlier?” Ryuji decided to break the silence and Ren shook his head.

“We were in some otherworldly place and Kamoshida was the king… but when we came back here he seemed to not even realize where we had been.” Sumire surmised and Ren looked thoughtful at this. What would that world have been? A false Kamoshida and students? Was it false though?

“Hey by the way, what was with those… spirit things you summoned? Hestia and Arsene right? What are they?” Ryuji asked and Sumire also looked curious.

“I am thou, thou art I. I am your Persona, your will of rebellion, just as Hestia is your will of protection.” Arsene supplied and Ren nodded.

“Arsene says they’re called a Persona.” Ren responded and Ryuji looked confused.

“Persona?” Ryuji shook his head, “This is all crazy.”

“Did Arsene just tell you that?” Sumire asked, trying to recall if the word Persona came up earlier.

“Yeah. He and Hestia kinda have been speaking to me on and off during class.” Ren informed and Sumire bit her lip.

“A voice in your head…” Sumire trailed off and looked contemplative as Ryuji decided to continue with his thoughts.

“Either way, did you see how Kamoshida acted in that castle? That was probably extreme even for him, but he acts like that here too. Disposing of those he doesn’t like and… if rumors server right, creeping after girls like what he said to Sumire earlier.” Ryuji commented and Sumire shook her head.

“Do either of you ever use honorifics?” Sumire sighed in exasperation and Ryuji and Ren chuckled.

“Nope. I find them tedious.” Ren snarked and Sumire sighed in defeat.

“Anyways, I gotta thank you for saving my life. You put yourself in danger and saved us. So thanks.” Ryuji punched his shoulder lightly in appreciation and Sumire nodded as well.

“If it wasn’t for you senpai, I don’t know if we would have made it out of there. I still feel some phantom pain in my leg, but better pain than be dead.” Sumire smirked and Ren nodded.

“Both a rebel of society and protector of your friends. You’ll do just fine.” Hestia told him and Ren inwardly smiled at the words. Rebellious and protective described him just fine.

“Hey by the way, I’ve heard the old rumor mill spitting stuff about you and your criminal record. Lemme just say this, after today, I know you’re nothing like the rumors say. Thanks for saving us.” Ryuji said as he stretched his hand out to Ren and Ren shaked it.

“I’ll see you both later. My caretaker wants me back at where I’m staying. Probably give me a tongue lashing for skipping most of the day.” Ren put his bag on his back and said goodbye to Sumire and Ryuji as he headed back to Leblanc.

After Ren had dealt with his tongue lashing from Sakura, who scolded him and reminded him of his probation, as if he didn’t remember. Anyways, afterwards Ren headed upstairs to the attic to get some rest after the day he had had.

“This path shall be full of strife, but if you hold onto your will of rebellion and the fire of your hearth, then you shall make it through to the end.” Hestia said wisely as Ren decided it was time to pass out on the futon once more.

**_Meanwhile in the Velvet Room, Igor looked to be thoughtful as he listened to the two wardens._ **

**_“Two Personas awakened in one day? That’s impossible.” Caroline refused to believe and Justine shook her head._ **

**_“It is true. He awakened to the Personas of Arsene, the gentleman thief, and Hestia, the goddess of the hearth.” Justine supplied and Igor looked intrigued at the mention of Hestia._ **

**_“Hestia would never be a Persona! That goddess has known better than to get involved in any conflicts.” Caroline again refuted Justine and Igor knew this to be true as well. Hestia was an unexpected variable to be thrown into this game. But, she was here so he had to play around the goddess of the hearth being a player._ **

**_“Perhaps this will be an interesting game.” Igor mused to himself silently as Caroline and Justine continued to bicker about Personas, eventually devolving away to just common Personas being debated. Igor smirked at this, enjoying the noise and conversation that ensued. This would be quite a lively game indeed._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. Uh... I may have wrote this entire chapter within a little over a day. I had a lot of inspiration to write so... just know all chapter updates won't happen this quickly. Anyways, about the chapter... Hestia... yeah uh... I ain't gonna spoil anything but her and Arsene will play bigger roles than the other personas in canon. Anyways, no spoilers on my plans for that, but just know I have stuff planned out for her.  
> Speaking of Hestia, her awakening leading into a Persona 5 Scramble type of battle is a bit of a special treat. Because in the future they are thieves and don't want big commotions, big battles like this won't occur frequently. But they will happen from time to time, so look out for those.  
> I know I kinda skipped the Ren and Sojiro talk after the first day, but a reason for that is that to Ren it just isn't too important and was just another adult telling him what to do, so why should it be recorded as another time someone told him off. Don't worry, we will get more Sojiro in the future.  
> Anyways, I'll end off here before I spoil anything else. Have a good day everybody


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